Lil Mama Explains Crashing Jay-Z’s VMA Performance

News

If you watched Sunday’s (September 13) MTV VMAs, you probably noticed that Kanye West wasn’t the only one who hopped on stage uninvited.

Rapper Lil Mama also decided to grace the stage during the show’s closing performance, in which Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performed their first-ever collaboration, “Empire State of Mind.” The America’s Best Dance Crew judge hopped out of her seat and onto the stage during the song’s final seconds.

Jay-Z had gestured for her to chill, and joked she was “T-Paining too much,” before he and Alicia Keys struck a pose to end their performance to which Lil Mama awkwardly stood in her b-girl stance beside them.

On Monday afternoon (September 14), her manager released a statement to MTV News, explaining her intentions.

“I did not mean any disrespect towards Jay-Z or Alicia Keys,” the statement read. “I admire them and look up to them as role models. ‘Empire State of Mind’ had my emotions running high. In that moment I came up onstage to celebrate my two icons singing about NY.”

Her decision helped her become a trending topic on Twitter for the hash mark “#LilMamaIs”, where several people went in on the young artist for hours following the ceremony.

Fabolous was one of them, getting in on the jokes about Mama. “#Lilmamais like the dude that parachutes down on the field during a game!” Fab tweeted. “#Lilmamais gonna get security at the stages of every award show from now on. #Lilmamais the bird that flew outta Lady Gaga’s nest on her face!!”